It's Winter- Better Bring Your Horse Inside!!

The saying “if you’re cold, they’re cold. Bring them inside.” applies to animals, mostly dogs and cats. Not many people are so easily able to accommodate an entire horse in their living room, so, how do we keep them warm through the colder months? There’s actually a lot more to it than just “throw a blanket on them”!

Horses get warm mostly from the inside, so a good quality hay is always step one. Horses naturally will grow their very own winter coat, and many do just fine with their own fur and some good hay. Hay alone is not always than the solution though. You also have to consider the horses age, teeth, how easily they maintain their weight (especially the older guys), the horses ability to grow a winter coat, their access to shelter, and the weather. This is where blankets come in!

Kat showing off a well-fitting blanket. The same length as him, with belly straps crossed under the middle in an X.

Your horse has great teeth, high quality hay, a solid shelter, but its cold, windy, and snowing all night and said horse doesn’t naturally grow a thick coat. What type of blanket???? There’s heavy weight blankets, light weight blankets, medium weight blankets.. how do you know what to choose? Since this hypothetical situation is dealing with a snow, good and weatherproof heavyweight blanket would be ideal. Since we tend to have more mild winters in the south, our herd does just fine with medium blankets when it dips below 40!

So no, you don’t have to worry about rearranging your house to accommodate your horse. They’ll be just fine outside!